Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Grand Slam Dynamite 2022

With what could be the largest Dynamite crowd in attendance and a plethora of title matches on the card, there was no way Grand Slam was going to be an inconsequential show. However, despite AEW pulling out all the stops, there was still no guarantee that the show’s biggest matches and moments would deliver up to fans’ expectations. After all, you can have a great card on paper and still not a great show because wrestling matches are contended in a wrestling ring, not on paper. Has anybody done that, by the way? Made a wrestling mat out of paper? All Origami Wrestling? I’m just saying, don’t knock something until you’ve tried it. With that nonsense aside, let’s run down the best and worst of what promised to be one of the biggest non-pay-per-view shows of the year.

Best Match of the Night

I’m going to say something that may be a bit controversial right off the top here: watching Grand Slam was like looking at an early work in the career of a master painter before they became famous. If you inspect it closely, there are certainly quite a few errant strokes that become apparent. However, if you take a step back and look at it in its totality, it’s still quite impressive. When compared to the masterpieces that AEW’s pay-per-views usually are, Grand Slam doesn’t quite hold up, but that’s hardly a serious complaint in the context of a weekly television show that is designed to build up to bigger things. The fact that every match on this show was for a title might have made it seem like it was designed to be an endpoint, but it seems like the booking on this card was mainly used as an opportunity to reset things ahead of Full Gear.

There’s going to be a key omission here that will probably surprise anyone who knows my proclivities when it comes to the AEW roster, but I’ll get to that in due time, I promise. In the meantime, let’s talk about Chris Jericho vs. Claudio Castagnoli for the Ring of Honor Championship. This was a seemingly random pairing for the RoH title despite the Jericho Appreciation Society’s ongoing issues with the Blackpool Combat Club, but as Ian Riccaboni pointed out on commentary, Jericho’s current “sports entertainer” persona is the exact antithesis of what a company that prides itself on having the best professional wrestling in the world is all about. So of course Jericho cheated to win the title. (Sorry, spoilers, I know.) It was a head-scratching decision to say the least – yes, Ring of Honor fans worldwide will be united in their desire to see Le Champion dethroned, and it is cool that Jericho will now be recognized for holding world championships in WCW, WWE, and RoH as well as eight different world titles overall, but it felt like Claudio just fit the company and the championship so well that it was a shame to cut the legs out from under him so (relatively) early in his run as champion. Plus, with RoH still not having any weekly television to fall back on, it seems somewhat unlikely that Jericho’s reign will be a memorable one in the company’s history, which seems like a waste. Still, the match itself was pretty good all things considered. The top rope powerbomb that Jericho countered into a hurricanrana was an obvious highlight, as was Claudio’s giant swing as usual, and everything else looked solid for the most part. The ending was a bit clunky with Jericho, Claudio, and referee Aubrey Edwards grappling for Floyd the baseball bat, ending with Claudio inexplicably “pushed into” Edwards in the corner, which allowed Jericho to hit the low blow and the Judas Effect for the win. Setting aside the fact that Claudio clearly stopped his momentum only to then “stumble” further into position, it didn’t make much sense that Edwards felt the need to turn her back on the action just to get a baseball bat out of the ring – it would be one thing if she was dealing with a person interfering, but Floyd had been sitting on the ring apron the entire time. Simply chuck him back where he came from and get on with it. I know arguing about logic in wrestling is pointless, and I don’t mind a bit of chicanery when it serves a useful purpose. This spot just didn’t seem that well executed overall, and when that’s the finish of the match, that isn’t a great final impression to leave your audience with. However, the nuclear heat Jericho will get as he carries around the RoH title and the growing discontent expressed post-match by Pure Champion Daniel Garcia, who embodies everything that RoH stands for in a way Jericho so obviously doesn’t, will probably be enough to justify the switch.

I’m also going to surprise some people by putting the main event between Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson for the vacant AEW World Championship in a runner-up spot rather than giving it match of the night. (I’m just full of spicy hot takes this week!) Regular readers will not be surprised to learn that I wasn’t too keen on the finish – I know Mox’s finisher is a chokehold, which is meant to make the opponent pass out, but it always feels like a damp squib when the referee just declares the match over rather than having someone definitively tap out. Other than that, there wasn’t really that much that would hold this match back from being match of the night, and you may not be entirely convinced that I’m not just playing favorites when you read my choice for the match that topped it, but I want to make a case for why I felt it was just a notch below for reasons that don’t mainly have to do with wrestling. For one, we got way too many reaction shots of MJF sitting in the crowd with his giant poker chip, which distracted from the action going on in the ring and broke up the continuity of the match. Second, having Moxley win was the expected, safe choice here, which sapped some of the drama from the match itself and made the finish a relative letdown. I’m not saying Mox is undeserving – quite the opposite, considering how well he carried the company in CM Punk’s absence (and looks primed to do so again with Punk gone again) – but the company has essentially played hot potato with the belt for the last four months only for it to land back on Moxley again for the third time. While Punk getting injured twice certainly wasn’t in the plan, it felt like this was an opportunity for the company to go in a new direction by putting the title on Danielson for the first time. Instead, Moxley now feels like a fallback option rather than the most exciting choice as world champion, and that’s not the best position to put one of your top stars in. Plus, with so much of MJF’s rhetoric in the lead-up to this match being focused on Moxley, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the mouthy heel will dethrone the new champ in short order, and the new champ will be left with the dubious honor of having the most title reigns in company history while only having one legitimate run with the belt to his name. That all aside, this match was a great showcase of the two primal forces that brought the BCC together in the first place – Danielson’s technical brilliance vs. Moxley’s unbridled aggression. The German suplex on the apron, the dueling headstand palm strikes, and the Shield callback stomp were all major highlights, and apparently our international friends got to see Danielson strap the belt around Moxley’s waist in a show of respect that he also extended to Daniel Garcia when he defeated Wheeler Yuta for the RoH Pure Championship, which is a lovely way to close the show, one imagines. (Stupid American TV with its time constraints and its Young Sheldon reruns.) Whenever Danielson inevitably wins a title in AEW, there better be a procession of guys lining up to snap that belt on him – William Regal, Moxley, Garcia, even Claudio and Wheeler Yuta. Heck, if he’s the one who finally knocks off MJF for the championship, the entire babyface side of the locker room should empty out to show the man some dang respect. But for now, Danielson is once again the bridesmaid, not the bride.

Match of the night honors go to PAC vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. I know, I know, I like the workrate guys who do flippy-doos more than the actual world champions. It’s why I was such a WCW mark back in the day – give me that sweet cruiserweight action to open the show so I can turn it off by the time Hulk Hogan and his bros take over for the main event. That said, though, this was an excellent match that furthered the long-running feud between these two and added a perfect storyline development to keep it running until, hopefully, Best Friends can take the trios titles off Death Triangle at Full Gear by having OC finally pin PAC for the win. I also like some silly comedy with my wrestling, so it should be no surprise that I enjoyed the spot where PAC went to the top rope, presumably to deliver the Black Arrow, only for Orange Cassidy to put his feet up in the air and basically try to goad PAC into jumping anyway. But beyond my own preferences, this match told its story the best of any match on the card – yes, Orange Cassidy was goofy, but he used it to sucker in the ultra-serious PAC, so it served a purpose. Rather than the Kicks of Doom being a throwaway spot to make the hardcore fans roll their eyes, Freshly Squeezed used the opening they created to deliver a legit dropkick that his opponent wasn’t expecting. Time and time again, PAC underestimated Cassidy’s in-ring ability, and that caused him to act out of sheer desperation to salvage the win and retain his title. The dirty finish hinted at a heel turn (though PAC’s whole gimmick is that he’s basically a heel except when he teams with the Lucha Brothers or faces someone equally despicable as himself) which would give PAC plenty of appetizing matchups against midcard babyfaces like Dante Martin, Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, Miro, Ricky Starks, or Wheeler Yuta. Regardless of whether PAC fully turns or not, however, the finish also fit the storyline perfectly – OC’s determination irritated the champ so much that hitting him with the timekeeper’s hammer was the only way to ensure victory, and that fact should give the King of Sloth Style plenty of confidence that he can hang with a workhorse like PAC despite his reputation for being “just” a comedy wrestler.

Best Moment of the Night

You might have thought I exhausted all my controversial opinions in the last segment, but you’d be wrong as I’m giving Saraya‘s AEW debut runner-up honors rather than moment of the night. I can already hear the gasps of shock and disbelief – surely one of the pillars of the Women’s Revolution debuting for a new promotion would be the most significant moment of the night, right? Especially given how much I’ve talked about my disappointment with the women’s division in AEW, you’d think her arrival would be a sign that things are going to turn around and Tony Khan is committed to building a buzz for the women’s roster that will make fans take notice of the quality roster they’ve assembled. Well, in a word, no. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited to see an underutilized women’s wrestler make the jump to AEW…back when Ruby Soho did it. And again when Athena did it. And even more recently when Toni Storm did it. The thing is, though, none of those women have fundamentally changed the perception of the women’s division – only Storm has succeeded in winning the women’s title so far, and that happened so recently that it’s hard to say what effect she’s going to have on the division as a whole. Saraya joining the roster is great and all, but what would lead one to expect that she’s going to be any different than those who came before her? Especially given her injury history, it’s hard to believe that she’s going to have a huge impact outside of her admittedly triumphant debut – we legitimately don’t even know if she’s going to wrestle for AEW, and I wouldn’t bet on her taking on a full-time schedule even if she does. I’d love to be wrong about that – I enjoyed her work as Paige back in the day, and she’s only 30 so if she is good to go, she figures to have plenty of time left to have a productive career. I’m just very much in “I’ll believe it when I see it” territory with her and the AEW women’s division in general. So as great as it was to see her in a wrestling ring once again, the long-term impact of this debut may be dampened by the reality that AEW’s women’s division is not one big star away from being great, and Saraya may not be that star even if it was. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but it’s going to take more than flashy, high-profile signings to make people care about women’s wrestling under the All Elite banner. Huge cheer from the live crowd in Queens, though.

On a less depressing note, Maxwell Jacob Friedman cut a great promo once again, though he kind of buried Wheeler Yuta in the process. Not ideal. Still, this was the most even-handed MJF has been in the entire build to the all-Blackpool Combat Club championship tournament finals, taking shots at Bryan Danielson’s injury history and Jon Moxley’s mental stability, which at least served as a nice momentary glimmer of hope that the American Dragon wouldn’t be treated as a complete afterthought. Yuta’s comeback about how MJF’s new fiancée would walk out on him like he intended to walk out on AEW was predictable but decent, and MJF finally goading Yuta into physicality by bringing up Lord Regal’s substance abuse history served as another example of why the scarf-wearing heel will never be fully embraced by the crowd, no matter how positive their reaction to being called *checks notes* “devil worshippers” may be. Yep, New Yorkers cheered a man who called them Satanists. There is not a joke in there, just a statement of fact. W Morrissey made his presence felt, attacking Yuta from behind to allow MJF to strike a blow to the young technician’s face with the Dynamite Diamond ring. All in all, not a bad segment, and it served its purpose of getting the crowd excited for the main event while drawing further heat for the de facto #1 contender.

Moment of the night honors go to The Acclaimed for winning the AEW World Tag Team Championships for the first time. As much as I love Keith Lee (and Swerve Strickland is pretty great too) I was actually happy to see him lose for once because of what it represented for their opponents to win. There are multiple levels of representation involved that should be celebrated – obviously, having four black men in a championship match is always going to be a positive sign, and Anthony Bowens becoming the first openly gay champion in the company’s history is a major milestone as well. From a pure industry standpoint, it was also a crowning achievement – Caster and Bowens are the first wrestlers who largely didn’t make a name for themselves elsewhere to win gold in AEW, which is a positive sign for the development of AEW’s homegrown stars. It’s no secret that AEW has lost some of its luster as an alternative to WWE, which under the leadership of Triple H seems like a more attractive destination for up-and-coming wrestlers than it has in ages, so being able to show prospective signees that they too can become bigger stars and achieve that level of championship recognition within the company should provide a boost to recruitment. The match itself was nearly good enough to snag a spot on the best matches of the night list, but there were a few slightly clunky moments that held it back in my mind, as well as Billy Gunn’s involvement in the finish. If AEW had pulled the trigger at All Out instead, the moment arguably would have been even bigger because the match that preceded it was match-of-the-night-caliber, but it’s undeniable that Max Caster and Anthony Bowens winning gold for the first time was the biggest highlight of Grand Slam.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

I’m open-minded enough to give AEW the benefit of the doubt here, but what a bummer it was to see Jamie Hayter re-align herself with Dr. Britt Baker DMD after teasing dissention for a long time. I foolishly thought AEW might pull the trigger on Hayter at All Out, cementing her turn on the good doctor with a world title win, but that’s fully off the table now, as she ran down to the ring to join in on the beatdown of Toni Storm after she retained her title in a four-way match against Athena, Baker, and Serena Deeb. I understand the idea of having a two-on-one beatdown was a setup to bring out the debuting Saraya, but it felt like Athena could have been laid out so Baker and Deeb could attack Storm instead of having Hayter get involved here. That feels like a step back for her character, considering she will probably just get fed to Saraya and/or Storm rather than having the opportunity to feud with Baker to get her over as an independent character who no longer needs her former mentor. Maybe this is a temporary setback to buy more time for the ultimate payoff between Baker and Hayter, but it was a bummer to feel like a good long-term story was just undone right in front of our eyes with fairly little justification.

Parting Shots

• It sucks that Malakai Black is apparently out of AEW – we knew he was taking a step away from the ring to deal with some mental health issues, but apparently he has been granted his release from the company entirely. At the same time, though, can we not immediately start speculating about whether he might return to AEW on a new deal or sign with WWE? I understand if entertainers only exist to you as characters on TV or whatever, but it’s important to remember that they are human beings. Let’s just hope he gets his personal life together and finds the peace he’s looking for before making any sort of decisions about his career.
• Tony Schiavone is basically the most sympathetic figure in AEW. MJF got big cheers right up to the point when he insulted and then physically assaulted the popular broadcaster. Sure, he insulted the crowd and Wheeler Yuta too, but the seemingly most offensive thing he did was go after everyone’s beloved Uncle Tony.
• Late ’90s/early 2000s hip-hop fans are having a moment in AEW – after Jermaine Dupri popped up when Dynamite emanated from Atlanta, we got both Fabolous and Trina on this week’s show to support Swerve in our Glory and Diamante, respectively. Well, apparently Trina is mainly going to appear on Friday’s Rampage but she did pop up very briefly in a backstage segment. It’s cool that AEW continues to bring in local musicians wherever they go, but as an old man whose awareness of current music is fairly minimal, I’m just happy whenever I ‘member somebody who pops up on Dynamite.

That’s it for another week – really good show overall, several great if not quite extraordinary matches, and plenty of intriguing developments going forward. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope you’ll all come back next week for more Chair Shots!